FIR Against Congress IT Cell Member For Alleged Sexual Harassment Of Colleague, Victim Says Party Ignored Complaints

A First Information Report (FIR) has been filed against Congress IT cell member Chirag Patnaik by Delhi Police after a woman in the party's social media team filed a complaint alleging sexual harassment, CNN News18 has reported.

The FIR has been filed under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 354(A) (sexual harassment) and 509 (outraging the modesty of a woman). The woman who filed the complaint alleged that no one heard her complaint in the Congress. Further, she added that she was forced to resign from the social media team.

The Congress social media head Divya Spandana has claimed that the woman had quit because of personal reasons and her exit had nothing to do with sexual harassment allegation. Her statement posted on Twitter said "the complaints committee (of the Congress) does not have any complaint written/verbal/official/unofficial from the ex-worker neither do we have access to the complaint the reporter was talking about "

Further, the Congress functionary wrote, "we have reached out to the ex-worker and are awaiting response in the matter".

This development comes soon after Congress President Rahul Gandhi attacked the government on the issue of safety of women. He had used the Thomson Reuters Foundation survey, which was based on the opinion of selected ‘experts’, to slam the government on the issue.